Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Bangladesh blogger Ananta Bijoy Das hacked to death

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–89 of 89 posts

Re: Bangladesh blogger Ananta Bijoy Das hacked to death

#81

Post by viraptor »

mercurial wrote: post #78
viraptor wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, he may not know much about Islam. I don't either. But even the page you linked quotes: "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued." "Jesus will come again, and…

The point is that this system, while penalizing non-muslims, allowed a mostly peaceful coexistence between different belief systems in the Islamic world, thus demonstrating by example that the notion of Islam not being compatible with other religions is wrong. On the other hand, the tolerance track record of, say, the Catholic Church was fairly dismal until its influence over politics became dramatically curtailed.

Honestly, I don't think I can accept that as a "peaceful" solution. Same as mafia can't be described as peaceful when asking for money not to destroy your business.

Simple test - any other religion with the same rule wouldn't be able to coexist peacefully. It's just luck that we have only one.

Re: Bangladesh blogger Ananta Bijoy Das hacked to death

#82

Post by dang »

themartorana wrote: post #26

Religion, held at any level above personal, is destructive to the larger population, in the long run. There is very little true tolerance from anyone who wishes religion to guide governing. It may be horribly violent attacks like this in Islam, but just as quickly it pushes for mandatory trans-vaginal ultrasounds in the U.S. I may get downvoted, but I fail to see how religion will ever help guide the human race to a…

Please don't take HN threads off on generic ideological tangents. This comment is the very definition of one, and has had the predictable effect.

Especially please don't conduct religious flamewars on HN. There are other places on the internet to fulminate against insert-opposite-position-about-religion-here.

Re: Bangladesh blogger Ananta Bijoy Das hacked to death

#83

Post by dang »

angrybits wrote: post #70
kghose wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aww, you took a news item about Islamic fundamentalism in Bangladesh and put in a comment about gender politics in the US south. This is sure to get up-voted, because you know, Amerika is bad. But just to be sure, you put in 'I may get downvoted'. That was a cute touch. No one on HN can resist that combination.

In case you're curious, you're getting downvoted because you told the emperor that he isn't wearing any clothes.

That's not true. The root comment broke the HN guidelines, but that reply did so as well, and by being personally acidic, was worse.

Re: Bangladesh blogger Ananta Bijoy Das hacked to death

#84

Post by DanBC »

viraptor wrote: post #80
DanBC wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But I don't think it actually calls for killing people practising other religions. (In the new testament, that is) Does it? Luke 19:27: But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me. As well as Matthew 10:34: Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. I'm not sure why you want to split the old testament off f…

I didn't say that they don't kill, or that bible doesn't advocate it. I asked if it does. I'm regarding the old testament differently, because I see it as a collection of crazy old stories. I don't believe it's possible to follow the word of the old testament these days without being insane. Or without getting locked up as soon as you start trying to stone prostitutes. Anyway, my point was - does the text itself (in…

I'm not interested in this kind of dishonest contortion of facts.

GP claimed that Islam was a bad religion and pointed to a small number of Islamic extremists to prove their point.

That point is trivially countered by showing the genocides perpetrated by Christians against people from other religions -- and there is at least one genocide perpetrated by Christians that is still ongoing.

You're "only asking questions"[1] but you're ignoring inconvenient answers and refining questions in weird ways.

For example: You don't get to define which bits of the bible are relevant. The christians using the bible as a justification for murder do.

[1] "I'm only asking questions" is a troll technique. You probably want to stop that.

Re: Bangladesh blogger Ananta Bijoy Das hacked to death

#85

Post by Lawtonfogle »

ramblerman wrote: post #31
krig wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disgusting. Other religions are perfectly capable of inspiring similar acts. Look at all the atrocities committed throughout history in the name of christianity: The imperial conquests of Africa and America were conducted in the name of spreading christianity and with the blessing of the church. American fundamentalists regularly murder abortion doctors in the name of religion. Breivik is a "christian warrior" defend…

1857 and christianity throughout history.... Should we not be focusing on the current problems at hand? The inquisition was one of the darkest most disgusting things I've ever read about, I'm no proponent of Catholicism. But I don't see the value of pointing to something behind you when there is a ten ton elephant charging at you from the front.

When one shows an elephant graveyard behind them filled with all the elephants that have charged at them, I suspect the point is that this elephant charging at you is no more the problem than all the previous, but a symptom of a greater issue.

Re: Bangladesh blogger Ananta Bijoy Das hacked to death

#86

Post by themartorana »

dang wrote: post #82
themartorana wrote: post #26

Religion, held at any level above personal, is destructive to the larger population, in the long run. There is very little true tolerance from anyone who wishes religion to guide governing. It may be horribly violent attacks like this in Islam, but just as quickly it pushes for mandatory trans-vaginal ultrasounds in the U.S. I may get downvoted, but I fail to see how religion will ever help guide the human race to a…

Please don't take HN threads off on generic ideological tangents. This comment is the very definition of one, and has had the predictable effect. Especially please don't conduct religious flamewars on HN. There are other places on the internet to fulminate against insert-opposite-position-about-religion-here.

I'm sure you can understand how if an article with religion at its core makes it to the front of HN, discussions about that religion are completely on topic and justified (and not at all generic).

This is not meant as a flame war or a tangent. When I say I find religion scary, it's in response to the article pointing out that a blogger who focused on the absence of religious tolerance was hacked to death with a machete by members of the very religion he stood against.

I don't think I'll come to your way of thinking about my post (no surprise) but I'm a bit confused why HN would allow an article to get to the front page if it doesn't want the contents therein discussed.

Edit in response to Being Kinder. Be Kind http://boz.com/articles/be-kind.html

Re: Bangladesh blogger Ananta Bijoy Das hacked to death

#87

Post by dang »

themartorana wrote: post #86
dang wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't take HN threads off on generic ideological tangents. This comment is the very definition of one, and has had the predictable effect. Especially please don't conduct religious flamewars on HN. There are other places on the internet to fulminate against insert-opposite-position-about-religion-here.

I'm sure you can understand how if an article with religion at its core makes it to the front of HN, discussions about that religion are completely on topic and justified (and not at all generic). This is not meant as a flame war or a tangent. When I say I find religion scary, it's in response to the article pointing out that a blogger who focused on the absence of religious tolerance was hacked to death with a mache…

Your comment didn't discuss the particulars of the article. It went straight to generalities about religion being destructive that could have been made in any of a thousand unrelated threads. That's why I called it a generic tangent. Those reliably lead to flamewars: because they're no longer anchored in specific material, people just use the occasion to repeat grand stock responses. Your comment wasn't uncivil (which we're grateful for) but it predictably opened the floodgates for many that were.

HN doesn't "allow" articles to get to the front page. They get there on their own; sometimes they then get flagged or penalized, as this one did. This story, though horrific, wasn't off-topic per se—but HN is incapable of conducting a meaningful discussion about anything so inflammatory, so in practice it ends up being so.

Edit: We disagree, but your effort to be kind is more important than that. I appreciate it.

Re: Bangladesh blogger Ananta Bijoy Das hacked to death

#88

Post by kghose »

angrybits wrote: post #70
kghose wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aww, you took a news item about Islamic fundamentalism in Bangladesh and put in a comment about gender politics in the US south. This is sure to get up-voted, because you know, Amerika is bad. But just to be sure, you put in 'I may get downvoted'. That was a cute touch. No one on HN can resist that combination.

In case you're curious, you're getting downvoted because you told the emperor that he isn't wearing any clothes.

Hey angrybits! My original plan was to spin my HN score counter down to zero by making true and blunt statements about the drivel posted on this site (which would, natch, be down voted).

Communication to me from a person identifying as a moderator suggests to me that the deplorable tone and content of this forum is managed and encouraged by moderators.

I have now lost interest in this site. I'm now hanging out lobste.rs which I find much more meaningful.

Re: Bangladesh blogger Ananta Bijoy Das hacked to death

#89

Post by notdonspaulding »

ionised wrote: post #63
notdonspaulding wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I fail to see how religion will ever help guide the human race to a better place. Then you fail to see any progress the US has made in the world at large in the past 200 years. The US was founded on the Judeo-Christian ethic. http://www.godandculture.com/blog/ravi-zacharias-on-a-mormon... > Organized religion scares and saddens me. I know you didn't say you were atheist, but just so we're clear: atheism is a religi…

Atheism is not a religion. It's a lack of belief in any deity.

Agreed that a "lack of belief" is strongly correlated with irreligious behavior. So then, when the author of the Reason article cites the religious indignity she encountered when claiming that atheism is a religion, it makes one wonder if atheists actually have an affirmative belief in no god.

Can you imagine anyone getting upset if you were to accuse them of being religious about their lack of belief in the tooth fairy? I can't. That's what a lack of belief looks like, no strong ties to any portrayal of your involvement in the idea. On the contrary, modern atheists in the Hitchens/Harris vein care very much how their beliefs are portrayed, and hold dearly to their cause of ridding the world of "religion".

Post reply on HN